Faction guides

[nein]

If the enemy do not sally simply remove a unit or two from the stack in your next turn... try to stack cavalry as they are the secret weapon for destroying sallying armies. Damascus will cede itself to the ayyubids even if you conquer it... this is an addition to the newer versions of BC. It also means war which is not good whilst your economy is fragile

[Suthseaxe]

What are the recommended battle difficulty settings for these sallies, then? I've seen examples where a single, completely surrounded ghulam lancer is feeling "eager" when his whole army is crumbling and he's fighting hundreds of men.

Edit:
I tried the roman Empire on medium/medium and I am doing rather well! Your advice worked (sort of; I couldn't get the enemy to sally from Dorylaeum). Now I'm thinking of doing hard/medium. The combat seems a bit more balanced on medium (light spearmen being smashed in the flank by heavy cataphracts break!) but little is happening on the campaign, so I may up it to hard. I like an interesting campaign, but I don't like being pummeled into dust as soon as the campaign starts. Would hard be acceptable for me?

[nein]

I play on the hardest settings... but I don't think it makes a lot of difference. Elite cavalry are bastards irregardless. The trick for 'sally exploiting' is to have a superior force of cavalry to theirs... but not so much that it stops them sallying. Pull the cavalry into a corner and then surround them with your own. Lancer charges can cause a solid amount of damage to even elite cavalry from the rear. It does take time, cavalry elites die slowly and have exceptional morale, but with them out of the way their infantry are victims that can be swept aside with a charge. Low tier units, like the spearmen you mentioned, will usually rout very easily from a cavalry charge, unless they have an exceptional general.

[Suthseaxe]

On medium battle difficulty, I have found that heavy cavalry will break when sandwiched between royal kataphraktoi and other heavy cavalry, rather thna having just one man going mental and killing tens of my troops. Though if I find that it's too easy, I'll switch back up.

[Suthseaxe]

Is it even possible to make any progress as the KoJ? The Ayyubids won't leave me alone and they have a massive amount of elite troops with silver chevrons whilst I have a load of rubbish troops. What's the idea with this? How am I actually supposed to win battles when the Ayyubid troops are so horrifically imbalanced compared to mine. Also, I spent a load of money asking the Pope for help and there's been no response. Now I've lost Jerusalem and can;t even recruit any expensive, elite troops.

[zburanuki]

If you lost Jerusalem it's certain that the Pope will send assistance. You can harrass the Ayyubids by attacking Alexandria and Damietta and then destroy everything inside or attack Crete, Rhodes and Cyprus and do the same. As for the ayyubid troops you have to rely on your battle skills I can't give you a tip, apart from having cavalry centralised armies.